Language and Identity

First of all, Identity is the belief as “who we are and how we are” which we all have as individuals and it is based on many fundamental factors such as Ethnic group, Racial, National, Gendered, Social Class, Language, Sexual and Religious. As it is clear that identity has many essentials and it is not made of just one fact but has something to do with many, I will focus on the relationship especially between language and identity in this paper. The concept of “identity” has talked a lot in many societies these days. It is mainly because world has been becoming more civilized and English is becoming an international language through entire societies dramatically. English has spread around the world and the fact that it is spoken and used to communicate by many non-native English speakers is raising some controversial questions such as “Do you have to become a native English speaker in your mentality in order to speak a perfect English?”, “Are you a different person when you speak a different language?”, “Can you become a near native speaker without losing who you are when you migrate in other countries?” These questions are interesting to many people who speak more than one language other than their mother tongue because this identity crisis usually happens in second language learning. What I mean by “identity crisis” is that your identity as who you are is lost in you and you don’t feel like you belong to the place where you are. We don’t think about our own identities on dairy basis when you are in mother land or any other social places you belong to. It is because identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis and crushed. For example, when you migrate in other nations, you might suffer with your new identity as immigrant and you might feel like you are isolated from native people because of the cultural difference and language. Language will comes first when it comes to identity crisis since you interact...

References: Bailey, K.（1983）Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: looking at and through the dairy studies. In H. Seliger and M.Long（eds.）Classroom-oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA:Newbury House.pp.67-103.
Baumann, Z.（2004）Identity. Cambridge: Policy.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...‘Language acts as a badge of identity.’ Discuss, referring to at least three of the subsystems.
Language is used every day to communicate with one another but beneath that conversation lies another message. The speaker’s use of language gives listeners insight as to who they are, like a badge of identity on their chest. Australian English’s unique phonology and lexicon is recognised globally and distinguishes it from other accents, giving the speaker a clear national identity. Ethno-lects are spoken by a specific group of people who have the same cultural background. These “ethno-lects” not only help express an individual’s identity and separate themselves from the rest, but also assist in bringing together speakers from similar backgrounds; much like a football jersey. Text speak is constantly evolving as lexemes are taking on new changes. Many teenagers and younger children have begun to adopt this in an attempt to identify with others and fit in. Through language, we can get a glimpse of a person’s identity but they can use the same medium to change that identity as well.
Australian English is unlike other Englishes in many different aspects, especially phonetically morphologically and semantically. Phonology plays a great role in national identity as it is what creates different accents. The broad, ocker...

...﻿
Language and Self Identity
Have you ever considered that language can be more than just a means of communication? With roughly 6,500 languages being spoken in the world today, linguistics is one of the most complex subjects out there. One thing intriguing about linguistics is how we use language to create our own identity and to identify others. Neither language nor identity are fixed ideas; both are dynamic and constantly changing depending on our surroundings. The varying uses of language are crucial elements to shaping our multiple identities over our lifetime.
One’s self identity is created entirely through language and conversation. Our language choices are immensely important to the construction of our identity. Our personal identity isn’t how we identify ourselves, but rather how others identify us. These identities are most strongly built by the language we use and how others interpret it. The speaker can put forth their best effort to attempt to influence how others perceive them, but when it comes down to it, it is the listener who creates his own view and identity of the speaker. If the speaker isn’t allowed to influence the listener on the way he is thinking, the listener can construct an...

...﻿Language and Identity
How and why are the chinese presented in a certain way in these series of articles?
In many countries, people understand each other. In the United Kingdom, the English language is spoken as the primary language. Around 95% of the UK population understand and speak the language. In America, the most common used language is English. There are many languages such as Spanish, Indo-European and other Asian and Pacific Island languages, but the overall language is English. Around 80% of America’s population speak the language english. They all understand each other, they can communicate with one another without any difficulties. Some words maybe be differently said or spoken, or maybe just completely different, but overall they can figure out the main message of the conversation.
In comparison to this, over 400 million Chinese people in China can not even speak, what is claimed to be their language, Mandarin. There are large numbers of people in the rest of the country that speak the language really badly. 70% of the nation can speak the language, but most of this percentage speaks it very badly. The other 30% of the people, which are the remaining 400 million people, can not speak it at all.
Getting the communist chinese party to push for another linguistic...

...﻿Mary Nixon
ANTH 331
Writing Assignment #4
5/2/2015
Language and Identity in Education
In schools across America, students from varying backgrounds subconsciously develop their identities through their interactions with their peers and their teachers. The language they speak, how they speak it, and how others respond or react to their language helps to evolve their developing senses of self. School district policies and teachers can drastically affect how these children see themselves and the world around them. If they’re lucky, they’ll have teachers who have a deep interest in their well-being, who will cherish the student’s different cultural backgrounds while providing them with opportunities for success in their lives after school. On the contrary, they could feel the helplessness that comes with marginalization and be left unable to rise above the oppression. The American Education system needs to improve to better help these nontraditional students succeed while promoting cultural diversity.
When teachers focus solely on teaching Standard English, they ignore the varied backgrounds of their students. While knowing Standard English facilitates what it takes to succeed, nontraditional students may need extra help in understanding and producing it. For instance, children whose first language is Spanish may have trouble pronouncing or spelling words that start with /s-/. They would...

...﻿Language and IdentityLanguage and identity can be two sides of the same coin in my opinion. A language identifies a certain group or place just like a flag represents a country, but this is not always true. If we were to look at the English language for example, it is a universal language that most people in the world practice either as their first language or as their second or third. The people who do speak English as their first language have a certain identity related to the language; while the people who speak English as their second or third language practice the language only for their professional and personal lives. For the second case, the English language does not identify those people but whatever language your mother’s tongue is, you can definitely say I represent that place or country by speaking that language. My first language was Amharic, but when I started going to school; I started learning my ABCs. I broadened my English language by watching tons of movies and reading children story books; I grew attached to this language. Later on in life I seem to have had an easier time with the English language than my first language. I was actually struggling with my...

...Major Paper 1: Personal Essay on Language and IdentityLanguage partially defines identity, it only defines identity to a certain degree, one’s actions and life choices could also define identity to some extent. I think this is an arguable claim because, truly, language and the way we speak does define us partially at least. Language can never define us completely. I think what really makes my claim arguable is the fact that I chose the middle ground, language may define us but not to a full extent, life decisions may also help shape one’s identity and therefore define it.
When a person speaks loudly and uses aggressive language that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is an awful person, he could still be a nice person and might be there for you when you need him. His language does tell us however, that he is a disturbing person at the very least since he is too loud and his choice of words is usually offensive. This was an example of how language defined an identity to a certain degree, partially and not completely. If another person had mid-terms coming up and I asked him to give me a ride to a really far place, his decision ( not necessarily the language he speaks ) would reveal a fair amount of his identity to me. If he agreed to give me a...

...is explaining and assessing the relationships between language and Identity. As the topic is too large to discuss, the paper will be focusing on the language and identity of teenagers. By looking at their characteristics, we will discuss how they build up a kind of identity in different social group by means of language. The paper will also include the argument on how people view the relationships between language and identity.
Defining Identity
According to The Free Dictionary by Farlex, identity is the state of having unique identifying characteristics held by no other person or thing. It is the individual characteristics by which a person or thing is recognized. For my own definition of identity, it is one’s conception and expression of themselves in groups, family, society.
Identification is one of the related concepts of identity, which can help explaining what identity is. In sociological aspect, identification means one’s interests and values are accepted in a social group. The acceptance offered by the social group help building up one’s own identity. Subjectivity is another relating concept of identity. It means one’s thoughts and ideas are in the state of being subjective. Undoubtedly, think subjectively is a good way to show one’s unique...

...Importance of language
The importance of language is essential to every aspect and interaction in our everyday lives. We use language to inform the people around us of what we feel, what we desire, and question/understand the world around us. We communicate effectively with our words, gestures, and tone of voice in a multitude of situation. Would you talk to a small child with the same words you would in a business meeting. Being able to communicate with each other, form bonds, teamwork, and it’s what separates humans from other animal species. Communication drives our lives and better ourselves.
Origins of why their are so many different languages as plagued scholars and linguistics for centuries and will continue to puzzle them far beyond our lifetimes to come. In most cultures have myths that there was a common language spoke among the people with a deity getting angry and confusing the people or separating them from each other/segmenting the people to create their own language. Prime examples of stories like this is the “Tower of Babel”, Hindu with the story of the “Knowledge Tree”, and even Native Americans believing in a “Great Deluge(Flood)” separating people and speech.
The importance of communication can be often overlooked. Even with the ability to communicate with each other. Misunderstandings happen. Remember, communication is a two way street that should be embraced and not...